No Stopping Her

BY MICHAEL SAVALOJA

Judge Danielle Mayberry ’13 didn’t exactly know what was happening.

The only thing the junior high school athlete from the small, mining town of Battle Mountain, Nevada, wanted to do was wrestle.

“We went to a neighboring tournament, and they weren’t going to let me compete because I was female,” Mayberry recalled. “I was mad, and I just remember my coach and my mom immediately started talking about Title IX and things like that. “I experienced just a little bit of what it must have been like before that passed.”

Mayberry, a Native American of Western Shoshone descent, is the first woman in the history of northern Nevada’s Te-Moak Tribe to earn a Juris Doctor degree. In essence, she’s largely the reason why the landmark legislation aimed at protecting those from sex discrimination was passed 50 years ago, and she’s also the reason why not many have ever looked back.

Mayberry’s journey, ignited by female athletics, led to a major milestone last May when she was appointed to serve as a trial court judge for the Te-Moak Tribal Court. The Te-Moak Tribe is comprised of four separate bands of Native Americans that combine to form a current enrollment of approximately 2,100 members.

The University of Jamestown graduate presides virtually via the Internet over cases that have a major impact on her home community in Nevada, ranging from child welfare and custody to eviction cases. Mayberry lives in Massena, New York, located 90 minutes by car from Canada’s Montreal, where she works her second job as a principal law clerk for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Court in the nearby town of Akwesasne.

At 32 years old, Mayberry is living out the dream she envisioned for herself.

“I went (to college) with the intention to serve my community and to use my education in a way that can give back to tribal communities,” Mayberry said. “When I looked around, there weren’t too many Western Shoshones with law degrees.”

A love of competing in sports at an early age served as an outlet for the once shy Mayberry, who became like a second daughter to Stephanie Potter ’94. Potter, Mayberry’s former math teacher and track coach at Battle Mountain High School, threw javelin for UJ coach Jim Clark and was inducted into UJ’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2008 as a member of the 1991 women’s track and field team.

“(Danielle) was one of the kids that was always playing with my kids, and our home almost became her second home when she was growing up,” Potter said. “She was a quiet, timid kid. I think sports helped her develop into the person she’s become.”

Directed toward athletics by her mother, Jessica Mortensen, Mayberry first competed in tee-ball, before moving on to soccer, softball, track, and her favorite sport, wrestling.

Before girls wrestling was a thing, Mayberry began grappling with the boys in the third grade for the local USA Wrestling club team and competed in area USA Wrestling sanctioned tournaments. Years later, she’d place fourth at the state tournament for Battle Mountain, a place where wrestling is firmly engrained as part of the culture.

“Wrestling was not something common for women to do, and it was something I enjoyed,” Mayberry said. “It’s a sport you have to mentally prepare for, and I think that has allowed me to better manage stress.

“You are very much on your own – it’s only you on the mat. It sets you up for the challenges you have in life.”

The self-reliance and perseverance she gained on the mat gradually transformed into confidence, which is what Mayberry brought to Dr. Mark Joy’s history classes – among many others – once on campus at UJ.

“She was a very good student, and she was one of the only students – or one of very few students, perhaps – that ever offered to help me with something,” said Dr. Joy, who’s now retired from teaching. “She recommended a book that she had used in Dr. (Thomas) Johnson’s class and thought that it might help me in my American economic history class. So, she was brave enough to make those kinds of suggestions.

“She was very dedicated to her work.”

The University of Jamestown women’s wrestling team was in its infancy when Mayberry graduated from high school in 2009. But along with Potter’s influence, Mayberry first fell in love with UJ while attending a wrestling camp on campus.

“I didn’t want to go to a place where there were giant lecture halls,” Mayberry said. “I grew up in a small town and I really liked that idea of one-on-one learning.”

Interestingly, Mayberry only competed with UJ wrestling for one season. But it was the opportunity to wrestle – an equal opportunity to participate – that can be credited for helping her vision of giving back to her tribal community to take off in earnest.

After earning a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and History from UJ, Mayberry would graduate from the University of Idaho College of Law in 2016 with an emphasis in Native American Law. In law school she served as the Idaho Chapter of the Native American Law Students Association (NALSA) Chairperson and was elected as a representative for the national NALSA executive board, while gaining work experience through places such as the Nez Perce Tribe Office of Legal Counsel in Lapwai, Idaho, and Fredericks Peebles & Morgan LLP in Louisville, Colorado.

Mayberry currently serves as a member on both the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Justice Strategy Advisory Board and the New York-Federal-State-Tribal Court Forum, and since her appointment as a tribal court judge in May, she’s also taken on the responsibility of serving as the Region Two representative on the National American Indian Court Judges Association board of directors, representing the states of Nevada, California, and Hawaii.

“It’s a sense of pride,” Mayberry said. “Tribal courts are really at the forefront of a lot of issues. So, having someone to serve and mainly understand how we can move forward in a way that best serves the tribe with these tools in mind, it means a lot to me to be able to do that.”

Mayberry has also already published a handful of works, including “The Origins and Evolution of the Indian Child Welfare Act,” which appeared in New York’s Judicial Notice in 2019, and “Protecting the Tosawihi Quarries and a Human-Rights Solution,” which appeared in a 2019 edition of the Nevada Historical Quarterly.

She was presented with the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe Staff Enrichment Award in 2019 and received the University of Idaho College of Law Student Recipient for Human Rights Award in 2016.

“I’m always proud to hear of my students’ success stories, her success especially,” Potter said. “Just where she’s come from, being the timid kid that we knew to standing up for everybody and supporting her tribe and her community.”

Mayberry’s impressive career is only just beginning. Who knows where the girl who needed to wrestle with the boys will end up?

“It’s a great benefit to women and minorities to be able to compete (in sports), and it opens the doors to education and places that they probably otherwise wouldn’t be,” Mayberry said. “The University of Jamestown provided the foundation I needed to be able to go to law school, and, professionally, I came out of there wanting to do more in my community and wanting to be a good person in that role, too.”

We welcome all Alumni & Friends back for Homecoming 2023 and the All School Celebration! Catch up, reminisce and see all the wonderful additions to our campus! A full slate of events is planned for you.

We hope to see you in your ORANGE and BLACK!

Come

October 6-7

All Band and Choir Reunion

*Band rehearsal prior to performing*

Although the holiday season is behind us for another year, I’d like to plant a seed that might germinate over the next several months. If you happen to be fortunate enough to not want or need more “stuff,” please consider asking your loved ones to donate to UJ in your name. Although my siblings and I still enjoy finding fun gifts for our parents (Gerry and Loretta (Hanson) Hegstad ’64), we also regularly donate to UJ in their names in lieu of giving them more “stuff” for birthdays, Mother’s and Father’s Day, and Christmas. Like us, your loved ones will likely greatly appreciate the suggestion for a wonderful go-to gift that keeps on giving.

Next, pull out your calendars! We’d love to see you for our AllSchool Reunion during Homecoming on October 6 and 7, 2023. Whether you return to campus regularly or haven’t been back since you graduated, this is an event you will not want to miss. Take in the fun festivities and activities, check out the improvements to the beautiful campus, and reconnect with classmates, faculty and staff. The collective experience will fill your heart and get the orange and black pumping through those veins!

MaryBeth Hegstad ’97

MaryBeth Hegstad ’97, President, Fargo, ND

Tonya (Schlaht) Holmstrom ’04, Vice President, Bismarck, ND

Carol (Prentice) Land ’80, Secretary to the Executive Committee, Bismarck, ND

Kyle Blumenshine ’13/’16, Jamestown, ND

Matt Gooding ’94, Clive, IA

Deb (Clark) Hornung ’85, Jamestown, ND

Sami King ’98, Moab, UT

Andrew Klose ’08, Sioux Falls, ND

Jack Lawrence ’98, West Fargo, ND

Jackie (Schneider) Maggers ’01, Powell, OH

Emily Paulson ’15, Fargo, ND

Kelly Rachel ’84, Jamestown, ND

Carlyle Scott ’09, Bismarck, ND

Dan Stoudt ’07, Lake Elmo, MN

Alexis Young ’18, Denver, CO